


Hope Alone Remains

by twistedsmileM



Series: Ministry Of Magic song-inspired fics [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Only Power Remains by Ministry of Magic, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 10:22:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12679926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twistedsmileM/pseuds/twistedsmileM
Summary: Lily Potter is twenty-one years old and her husband is dead. Lily Potter is twenty-one years old and she will do absolutely anything to protect her son. Lily Potter is twenty-one years old and she is going to die.Inspired by Ministry of Magic song Only Power Remains





	Hope Alone Remains

**Author's Note:**

> I've been obsessively listening to this song for ages. The fic is much improved by listening to it first.
> 
> Just a lil' ficlet about Lily's sacrifice, and her interesting (albeit brief) relationship with Voldy.
> 
> I have no beta. Professor Jones is an OC of my own creation.

Lily Potter presses a kiss to her son's forehead, before it all begins, unknowing. There's fear sharpening her eyes, and tension in James' smile when he looks at her and Harry. Even now, he never stops looking at her like she's a gift, everything he's ever wanted handed to him and he can't believe how lucky he got. He looks at Harry the same way, she knows.  
Lily knows it was no chance, any of this. She's Professor Jones' best student, a practiced Divinator in her own right, and she has learned how to read the tricky threads of events.  
She only hopes hers, and her husband's, and Harry's threads aren't too knotted. She only hopes Harry's thread is intertwined with good people, and long, and content.  
Lily sighs and puts her son down to research better wards for her house, to protect her little family. James and Harry. She would do anything for them.

Lord Voldemort is half-mad with power and terror, drunk on blood magic and dreaming of ruling. Sometimes, he's even sane enough to realize how much of a caricature of himself he's become. Those moments are few and far between, even moreso now.  
He has followers to order, power to be gained, allies to sway, enemies to crush. He strokes Nagini's head thoughtfully. She is a useful tool, and in her own way.. pleasant to have around. Lord Voldemort has always liked snakes, and Nagini is as excellent a specimen of reptilian pride as he could ever wish for. She nudges into his hand, regal eyes aware, watching him.

Lily Potter is frantically trying to out-plan fate. She's got big, dusty books and notes scattered around her, hair wild and ink spattered on her cheek where she absently tried to put a quill behind her ear and jabbed herself.  
Runes surround her, arrays and patterns of varying, beautiful, functional complexities. She needs to protect Harry. James, too, but she knows as well as he that they might not, probably won't survive this war. As much as it hurts to think like that, Harry is far more important. Lily may have been a Gryffindor, but the Hat offered her Ravenclaw for a reason. Logic. So rare in wizards.  
She turned a page back, and- there! That just might work!  
She ignores the risk, and the grim sacrifices necessary for the sigil to work. It was for Harry. She could worry about the risks later.

Lily doesn't cry as she traces the runes on Harry's head in her own blood. Most of them disappear, sinking into her child's skin with a slight glow. Good. Only one remains, the keystone to this gamble. A small lightning bolt shape, still marring Harry's forehead for all its size.  
She doesn't have time to soothe Harry, or kiss his little face. She knows that her husband is already either dead or close enough, and she needs to protect her son.  
"Some rules even you can't break, Dark Lord." she mutters, taking a breath and chanting a simple incantation.  
She keeps chanting as Voldemort breaks through the nursery door, until she's said it seven times. The final rune glows and turns transparent.  
Now, she just has to grit her teeth and hope that this works. She will do anything to keep her son safe. Anything.

Lord Voldemort breaks the door easily. Foolish woman, to think that mere wood and spells wood stop him.  
(Lily knew it would never stop him. She was betting on him being too proud and inhuman to think of her willingly walking into this.)  
The woman turns around, placing the boy into his crib. He studies her in a glance.  
Pretty enough, he supposes. Fierce. Severus has strange tastes, but he has been a good servant, and Lord Voldemort did promise.  
"Stand aside. I will spare you."  
Like you spared James? Lily thinks, sadly. She stands in front of Harry's crib, shielding him. She has not even reached for her wand since completing the array. It would be useless.  
"Please not Harry, please no! I'll do anything! Please not my son!" She begs, as if it might help. She can't contain it. Anything for Harry. "Stand aside, silly girl." I am a woman, Lily thinks hotly. More, I am a mother, and no mother should ever choose themselves over their children. She feels a small rush of pity for this sham of a man who is about to kill her.  
"Never." Her voice shakes a little and she hates it. She is scared.  
"Stand aside!" Lord Voldemort issues a final warning.  
Lily Potter does not move. She is only twenty-one years old, and her husband is surely dead, and her son is at risk.  
Voldemort's face twists, and he hisses a few syllables. A flash of green light.  
Lily Potter does not regret it. She dies, hoping, hoping that it would work. Hoping her son will be safe.

Lord Voldemort is blasted from his body by a surge of what feels like fire, and Harry Potter starts crying as a small lightning bolt etches itself on his forehead.

**Author's Note:**

> If you noticed any noted similarities between Lily and Harry, congrats. I tried, guys.  
> Please review. After all, how am I to get better at writing/satisfy my need for attention?


End file.
